I need to take a moment and absorb everything around me.
I don't think I've really appreciated living in the city until today. I finally realized that there must be something to do every day. I woke up around 11am with plans to head in the opposite direction I normally take on the 5 - out to ocean beach but a conversation with the roomies convinced me otherwise. My new plans for day included taking the 22 up to the marina and seeing the bay. I ended up watching a quick episode of MythBusters before heading out the door at 12.30 and making my way down to the 22 stop. As it turns out there's a jazz festival going on this weekend on a number of blocks along Fillmore and since the 22 is usually an electric bus and the altered route didn't have bus-powerlines, we got the ancient gas-powered buses. They have a good deal of trouble getting up those hills. Anyway, I finally got out to chestnut street which held my first objective; find food. After a tasty bagel I continued north with the intention of hitting the beach. I was sidetracked when I saw some big stone objects down a sidestreet and I decided to investigate. I quickly realized that I had found the palace of fine arts along with approximately four million tourists. The palace of fine arts is the huge dome you pass when you take the golden gate in to San Francisco if you're unaware and absolutely the most amazing thing to wander around under. I wish I had more time there without so many other people around trying to take or avoid being in pictures but I suppose everyone wants that. I managed to drag myself away and find the beach which wasn't very far at all. This was my first beach adventure since I've been out here which is pretty sad considering it's been 8 months or so. Then again, I've only been living in the city for a month. Since I'd never been to a California beach before, I stopped to take a look at some strange planty-things growing in the sand. I found my way down to the water and walked around there for a while until I saw some suspicious buildings in the direction that I came from and decided to head back and take a closer look. I walked through the palace again on my way towards a park-ish thing in front of these suspicious buildings. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any signage that would definitively tell me where I was so I decided to seek a jedi master that could tell me more. Some wanderings later, I spotted him (or he spotted me, I guess) and I stopped to take a moment. I started on my way again soon enough and left the presidio. After a quick trip back down chestnut street, I was waiting for the bus again to head home. The worst part about taking these mini trips by myself is that I can never seem to sit and relax anywhere. I just walk and walk and walk until I'm done and then I go home. I think I only spent three hours out in the marina total but I saw everything I went to see today - and more.

The final part of my story today occurs many hours later when I became hungry at 9.30pm. I convinced myself to walk over to haight and try to find food. Although most places were closed (as I expected on a sunday night), I found an excellent sausage place that made a filling italian sausage for my hunger. Lafayette Hill does not have sausage places open at 9.30pm on a Sunday.

A sucessful day, I'd say. And it really made me understand how awesome it is to be living in this city. It's the most beautiful place (mostly) and has all these great features that you'd never normally find in a city. Like a jedi master.